STL Tracker

STL Tracker provides space aficionados with a real-time satellite tracker that can connect to several satellites and display various textual and graphical views. Be it for science-related issues or just out of curiosity to know what is in orbit around Earth, you can use this application to get satellite data and relevant information.

Upon start, you are greeted by a list of satellites where you can choose the one you want to get data from. STL Tracker can link to NASA’s directories to present you with the most accurate information regarding the satellite’s position, the catalog number, classification, year, and other important details.

Having selected a satellite, you can move on to browsing the available graphical and textual views. There is a generous selection available, which makes it possible for you to explore the satellite data and its observers freely. Each new view you open in STL Tracker is displayed in a new window. You can freely move windows around to build up a custom working environment.

Graphical views available in STL Tracker display interactive images of the Earth, meaning you can move the view around with the mouse cursor. There are various options you can choose from at this point, each displaying the Earth in a different way: spherical, sinusoidal, cylindrical, cylindrical via Google Maps, elliptical. Moreover, the application can display radar and Robinson views.

There are also a few textual views you can browse: ellipse, satellite passes, satellite tracking, and more. There is no detail about each in the menu so all that is left for you is to load them and experiment with each.

STL Tracker can also display dates and times in UTC or the local time zone and for this there are analog and digital clock views. The application can display information about the sunrise and the sunset times, as well as the space weather conditions. For the latter, it connects directly to the NOAA SWPC to extract its data.

STL Tracker is a robust satellite tracker with various graphical and textual formats, all in a simple and intuitive interface. Aside from the aforementioned views and options, note that it can create horizon masks and get TLEs from CelesTrak and Space-Track. There is much to discover in STL Tracker but it is clear that you can only do that by taking it for a spin on yourself.